I’m attempting to write a travel blog for my two month stint in Italy! Thanks to spotty European internet, I might have to transfer multiple days over to my blog at a time. This is primarily so I can keep all you loved ones back in the states informed of my happenings and big adventures on this side of the pond. I’ll post pictures, little instances, funny findings and hopefully you’ll see my italiano vocabulary slowly progress throughout this time. I love you all and miss you already, but I can’t wait to share my experiences with you. Hopefully it’ll give you a sample tasting of what I’m seeing this summer!
dia una y due (6/5/11-6/6/11)
Benvenuti! (Welcome!) Today was a long one. A very long one. It has been almost 24 consecutive hours of travel but we’ve finally arrived in Italy. I spent the past few weeks at home in St. Louis with all of my family and friends for a time of R&R, but, like always, when I attempt to relax it’s just a joke. My mom and various faithful friends ran all over St. Louis to buy me camera supplies, plug converters, apple power adapters, small stock supplies for my suitcase, and spent hours packing my life in ONE bag, and ONE duffel for 2 months. [Yeah, be impressed, because it happened. I paid 0 dollars to send my stuff abroad.] A few good days were spent lakeside, celebrating Corey and Casey’s high school graduation and visiting with my beloved Missourians. Late night sand volleyballs, lunch poolside at the club and running around dancing like idiots in Jordan’s car with the music blaring on summer nights of man-cakes at Trev’s and shameless shopping marked my 1.5 week summer vacation. I got to spend a 5 year overdue birthday with the BFF and take a 8 hour (tops) visit to see Steven in como with his Mizzou summer welcome friends. After all the LSL dinners with the Jonses and Dickherbers, mom and I took a flight to ATL before my journey really began. We stayed up til 3am re-packing before I got some much-needed beauty sleep before gallivanting off to Europe.
Mid afternoon (yesterday?! Seems SO long ago!) I hopped on the red-eye to Frankfurt, Germany and connected at 3 am my time, heading to Naples. The first nine hour flight was made durable thanks to three new release movies that I watched on my personal touch screen and my adorably southern seat-mate, Carly. Carly and I watched “No Strings Attached” together by getting our screens to start the movie at the exact same time. We had our headphones in but every time we laughed together at the same parts we’d laugh so loud that everyone would look at us, as if to say "really? did you really forget we can't hear you". Yes, yes we did. We also shared two meals 9,000 miles above ground together, and cuddled as she slept and I watched “Just Go With It” and “The Adjustment Bureau." Needless to say, I had been in the airport 4 times in 48 hours and I was D-O-N-E, done. We perked up a bit this morning when we finally saw Chris Robinson (the program director) waving a UGA flag. Gosh, I love UGA! We took charter busses up the mountain, and finally arrived at Vico Equence, a little coastal town off Napoli that’s served as a port city for thousands of years. We met up with the other half of the group, numbering 100 in all, in time for our first meeting tonight. Sitting outside, around 40 tables for our orientation, the view was breath-taking! The tables are covered by wisteria, on an open-air terrace with huge wild flowers growing down. We got booklets outlining our adventures for the next week and a half in Naples, Rome and a few smaller cities along the way to Cortona. I’m looking forward to this bit of touristy site-seeing before we get settled in. It’s going to be good for some inspiration before art-making time begins! We’re having dinner at a pizza by the metre down the street called “The University of Pizza” and rumor has it we get wine served with every meal. I’m going to take a shower before we leave, and meet some friends across the street at Tito’s, the local bar (which means food here) and pub for bruschetta which is actually pronounced (bru-sketta). Who would have thunk? Until tomorrow, Buena notte!
dia tre (June 7)
Ciao amici! (hello friends!)
Having had time to rest, I’m much more in tune with all the emotions that are coming along with being in a completely foreign country. It’s not like going to London, where at least I understood the language, signage, and menus. Here, I feel like a wide-eyed touristy idiot, always looking at maps, asking questions with big hand gestures and repeating myself in English when they don’t understand, as if that will actually help. My t3i cannon rebel constantly around my neck doesn’t really help that image, either. I’m not too frustrated yet, because most people are very friendly, but I do live in a state of constant anxiety because I have no clue what’s going on program wise. It’s not that they don’t tell us anything, but they leave the directions up to the very last minute and then expect all of us students to follow the faculty around. I am a planner. I like to know what’s going on. I like communication, and I’m not getting any of that. I have no idea what to expect at all. I feel blind and useless and really unsure. And I’m constantly gripping my camera bag because I’ve been so prepped to be scared of pick-pocketers. A lot of people on my trip are really independent. My roommate for this city, Alex, got here a full 2 days ahead of everyone else and just wandered the streets of the city knowing zero Italian. She’s figured a lot out and helped me out, but she has no fear of going out completely alone. By the way, BEST thing I did was to bring tons of Euro with me on this trip. The conversion charges here are outrageous. And to take money out is just a hassle, so thanks dad!
This morning, we got up and had our first breakfast at the Aequa Hotel in Vico. It wasn’t the best. They had a spread of peaches from a can, weird Italian yogurt, plain bread and these nasty pies. I’m hoping they’re going to give us the worst food first, because this just isn’t it. I downed a piece of fruit and yogurt (thanks mom for making me start to eat it, and Liz/Nicole for encouraging me through each bite this past month at school, because it prepped me for this! Haha). We went to the Capidomente museum, the King’s old hunting lodge and it was HUGE. I’ve been to my fair share of European palaces and museums, so it wasn’t as awe inspiring as others took it, but it was interesting. We had a picnic lunch in the park, and I realized how common public makouts are. We had several options for the afternoon and a group of us opted to go back to the hotel. I’ve been delirious from the jet lag, and dinner last night was such a struggle that I needed some sleep. I lounged by the pool with the girls and we had our first dinner at the hotel that night. Dinners here are very different: Bread with olive oil is the starter, then curso one is always a pasta - typically noodles and red sauce. Curso two is a meat and veggie, but a lot of time it’s potatoes. Apparently we’re going to be living off carbs and cheese all summer. Tonight a bunch of people are drinking at Tito’s but I’m here for the internet and to answer Panhel e-mails. Yay responsibility. Tomorrow’s going to be a long day, so my night off will hopefully pay off while everyone else is busy partying on the third floor terrace, the new social spot.
Good afternoon America, but it’s bed time here!
xox
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